


Everybody Here’s Got Somebody To Lean On

by ZeusParker



Series: < 24 Hour Fics [8]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Gen, Post-Crisis, Reference Humor, SuperCorp, Written in less than 24 hours, alternate version of SuperCorp, loss of a child, title from a coldplay song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-14
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:40:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,942
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24178315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZeusParker/pseuds/ZeusParker
Summary: Title taken from the song Don’t Panic by Coldplay
Series: < 24 Hour Fics [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1745329
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Everybody Here’s Got Somebody To Lean On

**Author's Note:**

> Note: As far as I can remember, the DCW never bothered to explain why the post-Crisis refugees who popped up on Supergirl didn’t seem to be living on borrowed time like they were on Batwoman, or as referenced on The Flash, so I’m just going to ignore that bit. I’ve had this idea in my head for way too long, and it’s time to get it out.
> 
> It also might be a good idea to get away from the Femslash for a while. I’m a cishet male, it’s probably starting to look weird how often I go to this well. FWIW, I wasn’t doing it on purpose, and it only occurred to me while I was thinking of this one which is another in my ongoing series of “Fics written in less than 24 hours based on an idea I had at work.”

Set-Up: Picture in your mind an episode of the show, airing almost one year to the week after the first post-Crisis episode (title “The Bottle Episode”). The episode ends with another Supergirl landing near the one we’ve followed the past six seasons, in a similar but noticeably different costume, and with jet black hair. Her one line before the end credits; “Supergirl of Earth Prime, I need your help.”

And now picture this fic as the cold open to the episode that follows.

* * *

**January, 2020.**

**One Week After Crisis.**

J'onn J'onzz knew who was at his door before he’d even opened it. Al had called ahead to let him know that they were coming, and that they had wanted to see only him, and not Supergirl or the DEO. Or rather, this new world’s Supergirl, his Supergirl.

Though as he opened the door, he knew that even had he not been warned, he’d have known that the two women standing there in heavy jackets with their hoods up were not the Supergirl and Lena Luthor that he knew. The most obvious tell was the hair colors he could see even under the hoods; the other Kara’s being dark black, while the other Lena was a blonde. His deductive skills as both a Manhunter and as former director of the DEO filled in many of the blanks as well, though he knew that even that could only tell him so much before he had the chance to actually talk to them.

For instance, the way Lena, who stared blankly at nothing in particular, leaned on Kara, and the way Kara held her told him that they were not merely friends, a fact confirmed when he noticed the matching rings.

But the detail that told him the most about what these two had been through as a result of Crisis was the one that also broke his heart. It was the blanket that Lena clutched so tightly her knuckles had turned white. The child’s blanket. The empty child's blanket. If these two were here for the reasons he assumed they were, he hated that he would have to be the one to tell them about the death of the multiverse. He did not want to be the one who took away their hope.

“Come in,” he said.

“Thank you,” Kara said. “Al said maybe you could help us. I’m just glad we don’t have to explain who we are.”   


“Having known about alternate Earths for some time certainly makes certain things easier,” J’onn said as he guided the couple to a couch. “Would you like some tea? I brewed up some when Al told me you were coming.”

“Thank you,” Kara said, as she helped ease Lena onto the couch, the latter seemingly barely able to move at all without the former’s aide. J’onn knew that look on Lena’s face all too well, but he knew better than to push the matter.

“So, what I don’t understand,” he said as he handed Kara a cup which she tired, and failed, to get Lena to drink from, before setting it down and taking her own, “is why you insisted I not inform Supergirl, this world’s Supergirl, about you.”

Kara sighed. “Honestly, I don’t know if I can trust her. I wasn’t even sure I could trust you, but every alien and human in Al’s spoke highly of you, and if you’re anything like my J’onn J'onzz, then, well…” she trailed off as she sipped her tea.

“I saw the DEO ads all over the place when we got here,” she continued. “I just have trouble accepting the idea that Lex Luthor is a good guy here, and that my counterpart works with him. It just felt wrong.”

J’onn nodded. “Your instincts aren’t far off,” he said. “It’s complicated but, Lex isn’t really the hero he seems to be on this world. Supergirl is, I can vouch for her, though that might take a little while to explain.”   


“I see,” Kara said. “I suppose that’s some good news then. Not like what I found out about my brother on this Earth.”   


“Brother?” J’onn said.   


Kara nodded, gently putting her tea cup down and rubbing her face. “I looked him up on Al’s computer. He exists on this Earth, but I wish to Rao he didn’t. I take it my doppelganger doesn’t have a brother, the way you said that.”

“She has a sister,” J’onn said. “Works at the DEO as well. And is a very good friend of mine. You can trust her too.”

“What about…” Kara stopped and looked at Lena, who seemed to be about to fall asleep. Kara gently stroked her hair, and J’onn was able to finish the question.

“The Lena Luthor of this world? That’s a bit of an x-factor I’m afraid. My Kara still believes in her, but the rest of the team isn’t quite so sure. Another complicated story, I’m afraid.”

“Are they like us?” Kara asked. “Married, I mean.”

J’onn shook his head. “Just friends, and both… Not sure how to phrase this in a way that won’t sound offensive, somehow.”

“Hetero?” Kara said, with a smirk.

“Yeah.”

“Oh well, nobody’s perfect,” Kara said with a morbid laugh. If Lena picked up on the gallows humor she showed no sign of it. Kara picked up her tea cup again. “So, I imagine that if we want to get back to our world, we’d have to go to the DEO, wouldn’t we? I imagine your Supergirl could find us a way in around Lex.”   


J’onn tensed up a little at that. This was the part he’d been dreading. He opened his mouth to speak, but Kara must’ve picked up something in his body language he hadn’t realized had shown. Her lower lip started to quiver, and she nearly dropped her cup.

“Oh no,” she muttered. “Why? Why can’t we go back?”

“I’m afraid there is no more multiverse,” J’onn said. “This world you’re on now, we call it Earth Prime. It’s an amalgamation of several worlds that were basically rebooted, for want of a better word after the antimatter wave. I’m sorry.”

Lena had definitely registered that, as she had gone from dead quiet to sobbing, shoving her face into the blanket as Kara, visibly struggling to maintain her composure held her close.

“I want to say you’re wrong,” Kara said, sniffling. “But you aren’t. I just know it. He’s gone. Our little boy is gone.”

“How old was he?” J’onn asked.

“Nine months,” Kara said. “He’d been in the world almost exactly as long as Lena had carried him. I just… Why did we come here without him? Why couldn’t Ben have come with us?”   


“I wish I knew,” J’onn said. “There doesn’t really seem to be any pattern to who ends up here. But if there’s anything I can do for you to help you through this, just let me know. As far as I’m concerned, you’re as much my friend as my own Kara Danvers.”   


“Danvers? I don’t know that name.”   


“My apologies,” J’onn said. “What name did you go by on your world?”   


Kara sighed. “So, remember how I mentioned that my brother existed on… Earth Prime, but I wished he didn’t?”

“Yes. Why did you say that?”

“Because on my world, the man who was my big brother, director of the DEO, and the man we named our son after, you know him on your world as Agent Liberty.”

J’onn’s jaw dropped at that. “Ben Lockwood is your brother?”

“My brother is dead,” Kara said, practically spitting the words. “The guy sitting in prison on this Earth has his name and his face, but that’s all. Of all the Ben Lockwoods there must’ve been in the multiverse, why did it have to be yours that survived?”

_ As if these poor women haven’t been through enough _ , J’onn thought. He gently put a hand on Kara’s shoulder. She was obviously trying very hard not to break down. He imagined she was trying to stay strong for Lena’s sake.

“If there’s anything I can do for you… I know it sounds trite, but I have been down this path before, when I lost my daughters. The pain of that kind of loss never goes away, but with help it can get easier to live with.”

“I think we just need to get away from here,” Kara said. “If we stay, sooner or later either Lex, or your Supergirl is going to find out about us, and I just cannot deal with that. Can you help us? New names, new identities?”

“I can talk to Alex, that would be Alex Danvers, your- sorry, the Supergirl of this world’s sister. She and Brainy can-”   


“No,” Kara said, wiping tears from her face. “No, I don’t want anyone who doesn’t already know we’re here to know about us. We need to go someplace where we can mourn our world, our son, in peace. From what I’ve seen, Earth Prime has plenty of heroes already.”   


“That may be a bit harder, but I can do it. Who else besides Al and myself have you spoken to?”   


Kara winced. “Damn, all those people at Al’s. One of them will probably blab about us, if they haven’t already.”

“Not much can be done about that,” J’onn said as he went over to a table and opened up a laptop. “Though if your being here isn’t already all over the Internet by now, maybe you’re in the clear. Either way, I’ll see what I can do for you.”   


“Thank you,” Kara said. She kissed Lena on the forehead before getting up and taking a seat next to J’onn. “I just wish my wife and I had the kind of skills that would help us to blend in wherever we end up. I don’t know how easy it would be for people with degrees in film studies and epidemiology to ply their talents while staying off the grid.”

“I assume that you’re the film studies major, and Lena is the epidemiologist?”

“Got it in one,” Kara said.

J’onn set to work on creating new identities for the couple, wishing there was more he could do, understanding how they must be feeling, hoping that this version of Kara would find the time she needed to mourn in her own way, presumably leaning on Lena the way Lena was currently leaning on her.

“If you don’t mind my asking,” he said as he typed. “I noticed the numbers on your wedding rings. I’m curious about the significance of it.”   


Kara smiled as she looked at her ring. “Oh, the 42? Yeah, it’s a reference to our favorite book. It’s the answer to the ultimate question of life, the universe, and everything, you know.”

“What?” J’onn said.   


“I checked it very thoroughly,” a soft voice spoke from the couch, in a faux-British accent. Lena still stared into the distance, rather than looking at them, but she had spoken for the first time since she’d come to J’onn’s office. Kara got up and went over to her, gently taking her hand and kissing it, and laughing. She looked back at J’onn.

“It’s the first time she’s spoken since we arrived on this Earth,” Kara said. Lena finally sat upright on her own, as Kara handed her the tea cup she’d not even seemed to notice before, using heat vision to warm it back up. Lena removed her jacket before taking the cup, and J’onn noticed her tattoos; a whale and a bowl of flowers.

_ Seems random _ , he thought.  _ Maybe it’s from the same book the 42 reference comes from. _


End file.
